The
operations of Britain's wartime Section X (sometimes known
as MUW, the "Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare")

July 4, 1999

Scratch unit that
derailed Nazis

by Hugh McManners

AGENTS in the most secretive department
of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) deployed spoof
dictionaries and super-strength itching powder against the
Germans during the second world war.

Section X, the section charged with creating chaos and
destruction within the Third Reich, has previously been
regarded as a failure. But unpublished archives reveal that
it conducted clandestine operations ranging from the bizarre
to the murderous.

Early in the war its scientists developed an itching
powder so strong that a few grains rubbed in the eyes could
cause blindness. In November 1941 it was given to Norwegian
resistance members working in a military laundry who spread
it on clothing and bedding used by German sailors. The
powder was also introduced into contraceptives sold to
military brothels in many occupied countries.

Section X produced forged documents designed to destroy
German forces' morale, including French dictionaries which
mistranslated phrases and army training manuals which gave
instructions on how to feign illness and injury.

Much of the SOE's sabotage was low-key to avoid massive
reprisals by the Nazis. Agents delivered supplies of grease
contaminated with carborundum, which caused bearings on
railways to seize up. Forgers also made ration coupons for
food and clothing, which were dropped by RAF aircraft. They
were intended to cause administrative chaos and disrupt
supplies.

"Section X was always a thing apart within Whitehall and
many of its plans were opposed by other departments," said
Mark Seaman, a specialist on SOE at the Imperial War
Museum. It was never highly regarded afterwards, he said,
because few people knew what it was really up to.

"Historians have always said SOE agents never managed to
penetrate the Third Reich," he said. "But it is now clear
that Section X was operating inside Germany and that from
August 1944 onwards this activity increased."

Denis Rigden, a former Foreign and Colonial Office
(FCO) intelligence officer, has had access to the archives.
His findings in Kill the
Führer, to be published by Sutton Publishing in
September, also reveal how ruthless Section X could be.

False military documents were given to German double
agents who had been discovered in Britain. The men were sent
on missions to Germany and given parachutes that did not
work. The aim was to kill the agents and plant
disinformation. Real agents, both emigré Germans and
other nationalities, were parachuted into northern Germany
to stalk and kill off-duty U-boat commanders.

"The agents were out-and-out thugs," said Seaman. "Nobody
had any problems over the morality of sending these people
back to Germany to roam around Bremen and other ports seeing
who they could kill. The plan to assassinate U-boat
commanders shows how uncompromising the secret war really
was."

SOE's plans to assassinate Hitler and other leaders came
to nothing. Duncan Stuart, SOE adviser to the Foreign
Office, said: "To do anything in Germany was much more
difficult than in the occupied countries. Agents had to be
absolutely perfect - which meant they had to be German." For
much of the war there were no German volunteers.

Despite the problems, Section X had some unexpected
successes. Its "deserter packs" contained leave and travel
passes and food coupons for German soldiers. Like other
forged coupons, they are thought to have caused
chaos.